This thread is dedicated to ideas about how we could improve our team with out adding Yao. Yao may be the right option but he is not the only option. The following is my idea of what I invision as the best scenario and how it could play out. By almost all reports, even if Yao turns into a dominant center he still has a couple of years to work before he starts to meet that potential. It just seems to me that there are other options that could still net us a potential dominant center in a few years while adding important proven pieces to the team now. My favorite scenario involves the one with LAL and Lamar Odom. 1. Trade our #1, #15 and someone for Lamar and the Clipps #8 and #12. 2. Draft a proven college player. Not neccesarily a star but someone that was solid in college and should be able to contribute fairly quickly at a fairly high level. The name that comes to my mind is Curtis Borchardt. Now you have a line up that includes: Francis / Mooche Cat / Oscar Odom / TMo Eddie / MoT or Kenny Borchardt / Cato That line up has 3 all star caliber player with on second year player that should be a lot better this year and a three year college player that is very solid. A young athletic line up with only one rookie and some proven talent. Now with the 12 pick we have the ability to take a chance on a young player that has the potential to be a true stud but might take a few years to develop. The person that I am thinking of now is Amare Stoudamire. He could turn into a very dominant center in this game. A very aggressive player in the paint and at 18 with a 6'10" 240lb frame he could very well turn into the real deal. The thing is that with the team we would be fielding he would have the time he needs to develop with out the pressure of producing to soon. Imagine in a few years we might have a team that has: Francis Cat Odom / TMo Griffin / Borchardt / MoT Amare / Borchardt Imagine Griffin at 6'11" or 6'10" and 240 with a mature post game and a refined outside shot. Still a stud shot blocker and just a better all around player. Team him with someone like Amare after he has also matured into a 6'11" 260lb monster in the paint. Bring in Borchardt (7' 240lbs) of the bench and you have a very athletic and very good defensive front court. All good defensive players all shot blockers and all capable of scoring. This could be a championship caliper team that would only be challenged by the likes of the Chicago front court if they work out. 2006 NBA championship that has Amare Stoudamire vs. Eddie Curry, Eddie Griffin vs. Tyson Chandler, Lamar Odom vs. Jalen Rose, Cat vs. whoever, Steve Francis vs. Jay Williams. This is just my idea what could be.
Not impressed with Borchardt. Haven't seen Amare. But if The Clips offered Odom, #8, # 12 for #1 and # 15 + cap filler I'd take either Butler, Woods (if lives up to hype), Tsk dude (if lives up to hype) at the 8th if they are there. I'd then pick up Rush at the 12. Lineup Francis, Mobley Mo T, Odom Cato Bench Moochie, Rush Griffin, KT, #8 Griffin, Mo T, Collier Don't know how Rocks would match Odom's Salary. Disadvantage: Rocks are very thin at the 5, but maybe Mo can turn the 70 flab into 20 muscle. No Banger. Advantage: Depth, Options (besides lack of banger), Odom is probably the non-allstar that can help the rtockets the most.
Steve won't be happy unless we draft Wilcox and keep Walt Williams. And the posse grows? I'm becoming concerned about his "Rat Pack" approach to team building. I pray its just a skewed perception from afar. Seriously, if the Rocks trade Ming (and I'm opposed), then the Clips should give us Odom, #8 and #12 for the #1 and Thomas. We have to take Marcus at #8 to make sure we get a center (please not Mr. Clumsy Clown Feet Borchardt); #12 to get Stoudemire; and #15 to get Nachbar or Nikki T. if he falls that far. Another scenario would be #1 and Collier to the Bulls for #2 and Chandler. Then we could take Dunleavy and pray that Marcus or Stoudemire is still there at #15.
i thumbs plan. we trade kt who might not have a place on this team anymore and we keep an extra pick. we take butler at 8, Tskitishvili at 12, and stoudamire at 15. our team would like this: cato, collier, stoudamire taylor, griffin, tsktishvilli odom, rice, butler mobley, butler francis, moochie yes we take on a couple projects but i think we're a playoff team anyways and odom easily solidifies that. i think butler will become solid and tsktishvilli and stoudamire would learn from the bench.
Joe Joe, What do you dislike about Borchardt? He grabs more than 11 boards a game, almost 3 blocks a game and hits over 60% of his shots. Does your scenario really make our front court strong defensively in the future? BigM, I think with Tsiki on your list that your team might be better in the long run but I am not to sure about taking on two 19 year olds at the same time. Another player that I think is worth looking at is Jiri Welsh. He is suppose to be a real good defensive player with all of the fundamentals and the good shot like the rest of the Euros. He is 6'6" and could be a very good back up to Cat if we could get him later in the draft.
crash- good point and if bourchard is there at 12 i definitely take him, but i can't pick him over butler at 8. i also like butler-8, tsiki-12, and marcus-15.
I think the point of the thread is to kick out alternative ideas to the we take Ming at #1 mentality, so here goes: We swap picks with Golden State #1 for #3. We draft Jay Williams #1 for Golden State (since he will be gone by #3), and GS takes Mike Dunleavy #3 for us and gives us a future 1st round pick. GS will always suck (at least until proven otherwise), hence our hope is to acquire a decent 1st round pick later at the cost of moving down to pick who the Rockets always wanted to anyhow (at least in my opinion). In addition, we could trade KT for Troy Murphy (who can bang inside and shoot outside at least as well as Ming). The Rockets were reportedly interested in Murphy last year with the #13. Murphy will be cheap for 3 more years when compared to KT who will be up for contract renewal next year. Don't get me wrong, I love KT (he has dedication, hustle, rebounds well, plays strong for a shortish PF and is a decent man on man defender), but can we afford to keep him after next year? How about two high #1 picks for only moving down 2 slots, and we don't take the clutural, political, contractual and injury risk that comes along with drafting Yao. I am seriously concerned about injury risk to a 7'5" 300 pounder. Can you say a foot injury waiting to happen? After what we have been through last year with injuries, I don't want to gamble on an easily predictable injury to a man that tall. Even if it isn't a foot injury, the guy isn't built to take the inside pounding for 82 games. Not to mention that the Chinese won't let him play that many games over here. I've said it before, I don't think Ming, who wants to play the finesse game from outside, is worthy of a #1 pick. I'd like to play a smarter brand of basketball next year, and I think Dunleavy and a future GS first rounder might do the trick for both now and the future. Plus we get to screw Memphis for not taking our 15 pick this year by taking Dunleavy right before them at #4. If you don't like Dunleavy, the floor is wide open at #3 for the Rockets to draft whoever you want outside of Ming or Williams....Butler, Wilcox, Gooden, Borchardt, T****kicker (or whatever his name is), etc. Then we can draft Chris Marcus or Melvin Ely at #15 for some beefand shot blocking down low. C: Cato, Ely/Marcus? PF: Taylor, Griffin, Murphy SF: Dunleavy, Rice, TMo SG: Cuttino, ? PG: Francis, Moochie This team would have improved outside shooting (which would help our slashers), and mabey play a little smarter brand of basketball. We won alot of games when Walt Williams and Matt Bullard were shooting well from outside.
What about getting Maggette in this Clippers deal, maybe give up KT. I don't feel like looking up his height, but Maggette will give some physical presence, toughness, rebounding, etc. Anyone remember the game where he lit up Kobe???
That seems like a wasted quote since I did not notice anyone in this thread offering picks for players straight up.
